WITH OR WITHOUT BATTLESHIPS. 93 



one or the other. There are conditions of low-lying fog which give aircraft advantages over 

 surface vessels. In night fighting the advantages would seem to be more often with the air- 

 craft than with the surface vessels. 



Aviation stands today as a new, powerful arm of offense and defense which can only 

 be made dependable through development and use. 



During the war much more attention was given to the development of aircraft with the 

 forces fighting on land than with those fighting at sea. It was only through constant com- 

 petitive use that the utility of different kinds of aircraft became recognized. Improvements 

 were made in the machines, their armament, and the methods of using them. It was learned 

 that the only real defense against aircraft is other aircraft. Anti-aircraft batteries were use- 

 ful at times, but very inefficient. The records show that the most efficient of such batteries 

 made one hit out of 1,000 shots fired. As the speeds of aircraft increased, the probabilities 

 of hitting them with anti-aircraft guns diminished. Anti-aircraft guns, firing from the deck 

 of a moving and rolling ship, will be less efficient than similar batteries installed on shore. 



Bombing from the air was first done by small machines which could carry only small 

 bombs. Finally, large bombing machines, capable of making long flights with bombs of 

 several thousand pounds, were developed. It was realized that the big bombing planes were 

 comparable to long-range guns. The bombs carried have a capacity of explosive, of poison- 

 ous or other gas, many times the capacity of the explosive shells of the largest guns built. 

 The range of the bomb-carrying aircraft is today 150 to 200 miles. The flight to the ob- 

 jective and return can be made at a speed of more than 100 miles an hour. 



The navies of the world are now face to face with the necessity of developing aerial 

 means of offense and defense. There would seem to be nothing which the surface fleet can 

 do to defend itself against the attacks of air forces except to use other air forces. Prelimi- 

 nary to a naval battle between surface fleets, we can expect that a battle between the fight- 

 ing air forces of these fleets will take place. It remains to develop for naval use the several 

 different kinds of aircraft suited for different purposes such as fighting, scouting, bombing, 

 launching aerial torpedoes, distributing gas, etc.; also, the necessary ships to house, repair 

 and transport this fleet of the air. Perhaps some of the aircraft will be transported by 

 other aircraft. 



The report of the Joint Army and Navy Board, which report has been approved by the 

 Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, gives us interesting information, although 

 we may not agree with the conclusions of this board. The most striking among these con- 

 clusions, and the only ones which I will present here, are to the effect that aircraft carrying 

 high-explosive bombs can sink, or seriously damage, any naval vessel at present constructed, 

 provided such projectiles can be placed in the water alongside the vessel; that it will be 

 difficult, if not impossible, to build any type of vessel of sufficient strength to withstand the 

 destructive force that can be obtained with the largest bombs that aeroplanes may be able 

 to carry from shore bases or sheltered harbors ; that aeroplane carriers will probable be able 

 to transport planes with these heavy bombs in the future; also that the aeroplane carrier 

 will require the support of the battleship, the battleship remaining the backbone of the fleet. 



It would seem to me that, when we have acquired and developed the use of air forces 

 which can be depended upon to deliver attacks so destructive that battleships can be sunk, 

 these forces of the air will have become supreme over those on the surface of the sea. Ap- 

 parently we have a weapon which vvill make the battleship an auxiliary of the aeroplane 

 carrier. I believe that the supreme position of the battleship is more threatened today than 

 it has ever been, if that position is not already lost. On the supposition that a small number 



